The Bin Ladens

manuscript).

3. “was having some cash flow problems”: Telephone interview with Aaron Dowd, February 13, 2006. Price of the property, sale terms: Freeman, “The Saudi Connection,” ibid. Book of flowers, who received the first houses: Interview with Gail and Robert Freeman, op. cit.

4. Wine prank: Interview with Anwar Khan, May 6, 2006 (RS).

5. Winter Garden and Desert Bear history: Telephone interview with Rod Reeves, former director of Winter Garden Heritage Museum, February 7, 2006; interview Julie Butler, Heritage Museum director, February 6, 2006. Also, Desert Bear history, McCarthy purchase and restoration: telephone interview with Miller McCarthy, February 10, 2006.

6. Salem told McCarthy: Telephone interview with McCarthy, ibid. “the Prince…from Saudi Arabia”: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit.

7. Telephone interview with McCarthy, ibid. Closing date: Orange County property records. These show the purchase price as $1.61 million. McCarthy’s recollection of a higher price may include other contiguous land. The Deed for 17920 West Colonial, the address of the main estate, was purchased by Desert Bear Limited, “a Liberian corporation,” according to the Orange County records. That Price Waterhouse arranged the company: Interview with Robert Freeman, op. cit.

8. Interviews with four longtime neighbors who asked not to be otherwise identified. “they liked…openly”: Telephone interview with McCarthy, ibid.

9. “Come on up…in line”: Interview with Pat Deegan, September 8, 2005.

10. Ibid. A number of other friends and employees of the Bin Ladens described Ghalib’s accident, but Deegan, who flew ultralights at Desert Bear and visited Ghalib in the hospital after the incident, offered the most specific account.

11. Interview with Gail and Robert Freeman, op. cit.

12. All quotations: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit.

13. “was looking for deals”: Interview with Freeman, op. cit.

14. All quotations are from the interview with Gail Freeman, op. cit.

15. “We were his playthings” and “Bob, you do…humor”: Interview with Freeman, op. cit.

16. All quotations, ibid.

17. “a very quiet…through him”: Interview with a former employee of Bin Mahfouz who asked not to be identified. Asked for comment about the profile of Bin Mahfouz and his business activities described throughout this chapter, attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said that he did not ordinarily comment about his family’s personal or business relationships, and that he would not do so in this case.

18. “just as happy…care less”: Interview with a second former employee of Bin Mahfouz who asked to not be identified.

19. Hammerman Brothers shopping, “This created quite a stir”: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said he had no comment.

20. “The Big House”: Transcript of White’s interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; White affirmed the transcript’s accuracy in a telephone interview. “Why do these people…in for tea”: Interview with two former employees of Bin Mahfouz who asked to not be identified.

21. Connolly and Hunt brothers on the plane, Khalid complaining about silver losses: Interview with the two former employees cited in notes 17 and 18. Khalid directed trading strategies: “Whose Rules?” in The Banker, November 1, 1990. Baker Botts: White transcript, ibid. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said he would have no comment.

22. 1985 cash and deposits: The Banker, ibid. Aramco dollars and Baghdad flights: Interview with David Grey, February 21, 2006. Aid to Iraq of $25.7 billion: Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 157. Transferred U.S. weapons: Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 42. Attorneys for Bin Mahfouz said he had no comment. Salem Bin Mahfouz, the founder of National Commercial Bank and Khalid’s father, died in 1994. By the end of 2002, according to the Khalid’s attorneys, the Bin Mahfouz family had divested the last of its holdings in the bank, which remains one of the largest financial institutions in Saudi Arabia.

23. Five million too small: “The Saudi Connection,” op. cit. Project Debra: Telephone interview with Andy Pugh, Metro West, February 13, 2006. $100,000 in cash, $30,000 tips: Peterson quoted in “Arabian Adventure,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 18, 2003.

24. Told McCarthy $220 million in debt: Telephone interview with McCarthy, op. cit. Backing out of yacht purchase: Interview with Thomas Dietrich, April 12, 2006. According to Orange County, Florida, records, the mortgage was taken out from Sun Bank on June 4, 1984 and was repaid on August 15, 1988.

25. Asked to launder $5 million to $10 million: Interview with Robert Freeman, op. cit.

17. IN THE KING’S SERVICE

1. Interview with an aide to Salem who asked to not be identified.

2. Clarke, Against All Enemies, p. 39.

3. Coll, Ghost Wars, p. 65, for the U.S. government’s 1981 fiscal year. The brief analysis of U.S. and Saudi governmental attitudes toward the war here and elsewhere in this chapter is drawn from the research for Ghost Wars, chapters 1–5.

4. Al-Rasheed, A History of Saudi Arabia, p. 155.

5. The company had a zakat fund: Interview with Carmen Bin Laden, September 29, 2004. Also, Rand Corporation researcher Anna Kasupski, reviewing materials about the early history of the Services Office in Peshawar, located a 1985 document describing donations from a Bin Laden family foundation. “Rand: Early History of Al Qaeda Working Group, 2006.”

6. Pakistani air force veterans, Mohammed Daoud: Interview with David Grey, February 21, 2006. Karachi in November 1980: Flight logs examined by the author. Osama’s first trip in 1980: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi, February 2, 2002. It is not clear what time of year he traveled.

7. Class photograph: Author’s copy. “not an extremist…polite person”: Badeeb’s 2001 interview with Orbit televsion, supplied to the author by Badeeb, translated by The Language Doctors, Inc.

8. “We cannot…they received” and using trips to Hajj to cultivate independent contacts: Interview with Ahmed Badeeb, February 1, 2002.

9. “was not trusting…real mujaheddin”: Interview with Badeeb, ibid. Rabbani and Sayyaf, stayed a month: Al-Din, Bin Laden, p. 47.

10. “The arrangement…relief work”: Interview with Khashoggi, op. cit. “Members of the government”: Interview with Khalil Khalil, February 10, 2005. Badeeb used humanitarian agencies as cover, Osama’s audiences with Nayef and Ahmed: Interview with Badeeb, and Badeeb Orbit interview, op. cit.

11. “was a very…liked him”: Interview with Bassim Alim, February 21, 2005.

12. “The training…younger brother”: Interview with Khashoggi, March 17, 2006. “That the Afghans…measure it”: Interview with Badeeb, op. cit. Vault for Osama’s jewelry donations: Interview with the aide to Salem, who asked to not be identified.

13. Lawrence (ed.), Messages to the World, p. 110.

14. “a young…his feet” and more than $15 million loss: Interview with Sabry Ghoneim, November 14, 2005 (RS).

15. Azzam’s debts: Interview with Azzam’s wife by Mohammed Al Shafey, Al-Sharq Al- Awsat, April 30, 2006. “meeting of money…Azzam”: Al-Quds Al-Arabi, April 4, 2005.

16. Interview with Khalil, op. cit.

17. Al-Quds Al-Arabi, March 20, 2005.

18. That Azzam arrived in late 1981: Jamal Ismail in Bergen, The Osama Bin Laden I Know, p. 26. Saudi funding of $35 million: Piscatori, “Islamic Values and National Interest,” in Islam and Foreign Policy, p. 47.